Mendelssohn wrote this Capriccio for string quartet in 1843 and it was published posthumously as one of his Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 81. It opens as a kind of cradle song, the tempo Andante con moto and the violin melody unfolding over a rocking accompaniment. Mendelssohn then springs a surprise: after a kind of mini-cadenza for the first violin, the music gives way to a rapid fugue, marked Allegro fugato, assai vivace. What follows is a dramatic demonstration of Mendelssohn’s ability to fuse the discipline of fugal writing with an acute sense of musical drama, leading to a splendidly abrupt close with three brusque chords. 

Nigel Simeone 2024